Preparing for US Regulation: How to Move Web Traffic to the US

Legal online poker in the United States appears to have moved from the “if” stage to the “when” stage. That much is clear from the race between states to be the first to bring online poker back; as well as the flurry of software acquisitions by gaming companies like Caesars.

What’s been missing in the conversation is how gaming sites and affiliate partners will start moving web traffic back to the US? While there are still plenty of questions about how online poker is going to work, there are plenty of ways webmasters can start preparing to get that web traffic flowing again.

Understand the Issues

Before you start sending traffic anywhere, you’ll want to be certain you’re sending it to the right places. As it stands today, most poker bills making their way through state legislatures are focused on intrastate gambling. That means only players residing in that particular state can legally play.

Understanding who your potential players are going to be will, obviously, have a huge impact on your marketing efforts. Keep an eye on news reports and make certain that you understand who your players are before you start drawing them in. No one wants to deal with frustrated players who can’t get payouts because they don’t meet residency requirements.

Start Building an e-Mail List

Affiliates should have no trouble building excitement amongst potential players and regular e-mail updates are great way to get the momentum going. You can start building your e-mail list from your existing customer database, or start hitting entirely new markets.

Utilize Social Media

If you’re looking to kill two birds with one stone, put plenty of effort into driving US traffic from social media sites, especially Facebook. That’s because around 129 million Americans have Facebook accounts and it could, potentially, become the center of the iGaming world.

Establishing a presence on Facebook not only gives you prime access to American traffic, it also puts you in the center of the action should Facebook implement real cash gambling. It’s already a hotspot of social gambling and all those Texas Hold ‘Em players constitute a massive pool of convertible players.

Guess who's calling the shots?

Domain Name Issues

Before you start moving too much traffic to the US, you’ll want to be very clear about who’s in charge of the .com domains. The US Department of Commerce, for all intents and purposes, controls all .com domains. That means the DOJ can easily seize domains in the event of legal actions.

Affiliates with sports betting connections should think long and hard about the relative merits of a .eu domain. The DOJ is known to be pretty capricious when it comes to its dealings with sports betting, so why take chances?

Finally

Affiliates who start preparing to move traffic to the US when poker is finally green lighted will be set up to take advantage of the anticipated land rush it’s likely to bring.